Dear Luke Bryan, Let me start by saying that my favorite song of yours is “Country Man” that came out back when you still performed country music. I have not followed your music much since, though I enjoy seeing you hunting deer on Buck Commander. Recently, I heard your song “Most People Are Good” on…

Over the last few weeks, a clergy friend and I have been meeting to discuss a book we started reading together titled The Forgotten Jesus: How Western Christians Should Follow an Eastern Rabbi by Robby Gallaty. The basic premise is this: We often neglect the fact that Jesus was a Jew. As modern Westerners, we…

Our church recently held a class for those interested in joining the church. As I began organizing it, I was exposed to a new trend that is affecting a lot of churches today: church membership has become meaningless. I found this out firsthand through my efforts to get people to sign up. I sent out…

As I sat in the drive-thru, waiting to place my order, I turned on the radio to break the silence. I flipped through the stations in an attempt to find some music when I stumbled upon a conversation between the DJ and a caller. “I would tell myself to be true to yourself. God loves…

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of spending some time with my friends from high school. Every year we pick a weekend to reconnect, coming together from a variety of cultural, religious, and political perspectives. These friends have known me long before I was granted the title of “reverend,” so I’m sure the…

One of the most influential theological books of the 20th century was Christ and Culture by H. Richard Niebuhr. In it, he presents five categories to describe how Christians might relate to the culture in which they live. This is an important question for Christians to consider as issues of racism, sexual orientation, gender identity,…